Reflections on life: the funny, poignant, serious and quirky

Turkey Day is a term coined by my youngest son, Tyler, referring of course to Thanksgiving Day—but it really does synthesize what the day means to him. He has used this term for about twelve years now, first utilizing it one Thanksgiving weekend when he was about nine. We decided to go apple picking on this now infamous Thanksgiving Day twelve years ago for a “fun family outing”. (For those of you who are not Canadian, and from the looks of my stats—that is many of you, Thanksgiving is the second Monday of October in our country.)

For some reason, many Canadians have their Thanksgiving meal on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, which leaves us time to do other things on Thanksgiving Day besides eat leftovers (which in my books is one of the most wonderful meals there is ~ I think I like noshing on Thanksgiving leftovers as much as the original meal.)

So, on this day in the year 2000, we decided to go apple picking, and while we were there we picked up a few pumpkins from the orange grove (just seeing if you are paying attention—of course it was a pumpkin patch, and no we did not see Linus there looking for the Great Pumpkin—it was too early).

Since it was late in the apple season, our wagon ride to the apple trees that still had apples was rather lengthy—and Tyler, in great spirits that day, kept wishing everyone a Happy Turkey Day. This garnered all kinds of interest, which he just ate up. He was a pixyish looking little guy, so he got a lot of waves and smiles with his exuberance.

To this day, he loves turkey—and Thanksgiving is just not Thanksgiving without turkey at our house. Before he grew to realize his love for the big bird, I would serve other meals I was just as thankful for (like prime rib or lamb or ham) and were much easier to contend with. Since he has made this realization, we serve turkey every Thanksgiving.

After lo these many years of thawing turkeys, stuffing turkeys, and complaining about thawing and stuffing turkeys, I have come upon a foolproof Thanksgiving meal. I get one of those turkeys that come already stuffed and that you can take out of the freezer and stick into your oven with just some minor preparations. I stumbled upon this solution at the advice of a friend who I think may have been tired of me complaining about the thawing and stuffing of the bird that stars in a proper Thanksgiving meal. And to that end the search for the perfect turkey commences today.

The search entails buying one of these guys on sale. They are an arm and a leg if not on sale. As we speak, they are purported to be on sale at my local grocery store—so as soon as I get this post done, I shall be hightailing it out of here to get one that is affordable. Last time they were on sale (a couple of weeks ago) they had all been scooped up and only the regular turkeys were there biding their time in the frozen food bins.

I know that some people are suspicious of these already stuffed birds, but I cook mine until there is no mistaking that it is done—and truly the stuffing is delicious and there is a generous amount. And I do not have to thaw the dumb thing. In the past, I have taken turkeys out of my freezer and crowded my fridge for a full seven days and still the thing wasn’t completely thawed out.

Turkey Day is only a couple of weeks away, but I will not be satisfied until I have one nestled in my freezer among the corn and peas, and ready to be taken out just before I have to throw him in the oven (or place him ever so gently, let’s not get violent here.)

O happy day—this is me doing the Snoopy dance—Turkey Day is going to be easy peasy this year and every year hereafter.

I hated doing a turkey. But for some reason always gave in to the family demands of turkey. Christmas my family either did turkey or ham, but I decided to start my own tradition of doing whatever I wanted which was neither turkey or ham. Enjoy your T day!

For a second there I was confused…But – back on track when you were just checking if we were paying attention – LOL
Not a fan of turkey – but – not quite Thanksgiving without it.
I like the Snoopy Happy Dance!
I’m dancing with you :)

I didn’t know Thanksgiving was in October in Canada! We celebrate it in November, I think it’s the 22nd this year. We used to do the turkey thing, but since it’s just hubby and me, we have steak and lobster and we do that for Christmas too. No leftovers that way. :).

Well if you didn’t know before….I am Canadian also and looking forward to …you guessed it…the same kind of turkey you buy…I realize many cannot comprehend buying a frozen stuffed turkey…but boy does it make dinner far less complicated…and I’m sorry for all of you who have special stuffing recipes…but we don’t miss it at all…And our Thanksgiving turkey dinner is just delicious….Diane

yay Diane – I have no special stuffing recipe that is any better than the one in those stuffed turkeys (I am truly surprised at how good they are) —
so are turkeys on sale in your neck of the woods–I cannot afford the little devils unless they are on sale-
we will have to exchange Happy Thanksgivings in a couple of weeks

since I can remember it is always the second Monday –and it is early this year–I have done the history of Thanksgiving Day in Canada and it used to be moved all over the place
wish I could hand over the cooking to someone, but since I can’t, I do whatever I can do to make it easier

That was one beautiful story of Tyler, your family’s past Thanksgiving and how Turkey came about. Yes, I too enjoy the joyful and grateful spirit of this holiday, not only do we taste some delicious food but it builds up the bond and affection among families…one reason to be thankful about. Have a great weekend!

Happy Turkey Day in advance in case I miss your actual celebration (being too involved in the wedding, or too recovering from it or something.) Isn’t the smell of the roasting bird awesome? We are almost-vegetarian and didn’t eat one for one year, but the next year my husband insisted, so we’re back to roasting two turkeys a year. (His boss gives all the employees a turkey or two at Christmas time. We’re waiting for T-day to bake our second one.)

yes, you have some pretty exciting stuff coming up
-I have the desire to be a vegetarian, but not yet the will–tell me how you started when you get a little time–if you want to email me instead, go ahead

LouAnn, we did it (for the second time in our life) about 6-7 years ago when the doc wanted to take out my gall bladder. So actually became vegan/macrobiotic for about four years. Lost about 20 pounds! It was fun to eat that way, but we’re back to eating more moderately now. Eat some turkey, some fish, a small bit of cheese. The gall bladder had to go anyway…the diet wasn’t enough to heal it. Good luck with your own desire if you choose! My advice is to start with several vegetarian days a week and then slowly work up…

I would love to find such a turkey here in the UK. Our turkey eating is done at Christmas and we love the leftovers too but I would love the first day to be easier! I shall put out a call to our supermarkets to get looking!
We’re with Kathy above too and eating vegetarian3-4and sometimes more times a week. Can’t quite give up the bacon yet! :)

~ AWARDS ~

I will no longer be accepting Awards.
I am honoured to be remembered, nominated and given awards but I will not partake in the Award "ceremonies".
Thank you to all who have given me awards in the past: you make my soul sing.